Dogs are a popular pet, each having their own personality and known breed characteristics. It is a common desire for a pet dog to fit into an owner's daily lifestyle where it is required for the dog to behave in a controlled manner, whether inside or outside of the home. Therefore, it is common practice to train dogs so that they are responsive to commands enabling them to be guided away from dangerous or unwanted scenarios. It is believed that training a dog is both beneficial to the safety of the dog and the general environment of the dog, it's owner and others in the dog's vicinity.
There are many ways of training a dog. Some techniques rely solely on giving the dog a treat when they perform a desired act so as to encourage them to repeat the behaviour. However, it can take weeks to train an obstinate dog using this technique. Alternatively the dog trainer may apply a short sharp tap to the dog using a prodding stick or their hand. This technique is particularly useful to command the attention of the dog when it has become distracted and engrossed in an unwanted act. The dog may then associate the ‘tap’ with the unwanted act which may make them less inclined to repeat the act. However, it may be difficult to define what is a ‘tap’ and some people may be too heavy handed thereby inflicting unnecessary pain on the dog, which is clearly undesirable.
A growing concern, which is often reported in the news, is the handling and discipline of dangerous dogs. It is known for such dogs to be uncontrollably overcome by their animal instinct and in some cases this can lead them to attack a person or other animal. Such an attack can lead to life changing injuries and even death of the person or animal. It is important for ‘responsible’ owners to have a means of dealing with their dogs when such unexpected aggressive episodes arise. In particular there is a need to provide a means to enable release of a dog when its jaws are fixed to a person or animal.
In such cases it is known to use mechanical leverage devices or electric shock devices to discourage dogs from behaving in an aggressive or unwanted manner, the latter usually being used in dangerous situations, for example when a dog has bitten a person. However, the leverage device very much depends on the relative strength of the user and the dog, and may not be feasible when the jaw of a dog has made contact with, for example, a person. The electric shock device inflicts pain on the dog and can debilitate a large dog such that the dog cannot respond to commands of stimuli for a minute or more. Inflicting such pain on an animal is not considered to be a particularly humane act. However, it is effective in extreme scenarios.
The present invention is derived from the realisation that there exists a need to stabilise an animal, for example a dog, when they become aggressive so as to prevent them biting a person or animal, or to encourage them to release an item from their jaws, without the need for inflicting pain or debilitation to the dog, and to remove the need for a recovery period. There is also a desire to provide a training device that speeds up the training process by deterring the dog from doing certain acts in a humane manner and which can be used as a ‘memory aid’. Therefore, a tool that can be used as a deterrent in dangerous scenarios, a deterrent whilst training the dog and a tool to encourage release of an object from a dog's jaws is required, that is also capable of alleviating the problems described above.